Seeing Jesus through America or America through Jesus

The danger is that we can begin to read the Bible through the eyes of America rather than America through the eyes of the Bible. We just want Jesus to be a good American.

For Jesus and his followers, the central question was, How do we live faithfully to God? But then the church inherited a kingdom. And it wasn’t the kind of servant kingdom Jesus imagined and incarnated, not the kingdom of the slaughtered Lamb; it was the dominant and coercive force in charge of the world, even in its pursuit of establishing “justice for all.” Instead of faithfulness, the question was, How do we run the world as Christians? This question would echo throughout the centuries in questions like, How do I run this profit-driven corporation as a Christian? How can we make culture more Christian? How would a responsible Christian run this war? But Jesus taught that his followers – or even the Son of God! – Should not attempt to “run the world.”

It is becoming more and more clear that the Pax Americana is not helping the world get any closer to understanding the crucified Christ and his gospel of grace.